In the game of soccer, it is important to have good ball control, to be able to make accurate passes, to have good kick control, and confidence in ones ability to repeatedly kick the ball with anticipated and expected returns.
It is desirable to be able to practice kicking a soccer ball without the necessity of having another party retrieve the ball or having to retrieve the ball themselves. It may also be desirable to practice kicking the ball in a confined area such as indoor depending upon the weather conditions and practice space available to the kicker. It is also important to provide a means for storing and retrieval of the return apparatus with relative ease.
In most instances, players cannot pass the ball with their hands when it is in motion and must use their feet. The ball is primarily guided by the angle of the ball coming off the players, head or shoe. It is possible to also guide the ball by imparting back spins, or side spins to the ball causing the ball to curve up, down, or to one side or the other.
The closest prior art related to the present invention includes applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,539 which includes some of the features of the present invention. Other prior art references found in a search include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,104 by Griffin for “BASEBALL BATTING TRAINING DEVICE” which issued Jun. 28, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,409 by Schachner for “KICKING PRACTICE AID” which issued Apr. 16, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,241 by Garcia for “LARGE FOOT BALLS OR SOCCER BALLS” which issued Jan. 31, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,117 by Reichert for “TORSO TETHERED TRAINING DEVICE” which issued Jan. 27, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,257 by Garcia et al. for “SOCCER KICKING AID” which issued Jul. 14, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,338 by May for “FOOTBALL PRACTICE AID” which issued Sep. 21, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,599 by Brown for “SOCCER PRACTICE DEVICE” which issued Jul. 31, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,379 by Juhasz for “SOCCER PRACTICE APPARATUS” which issued Mar. 18, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,209 by Carey for “SOCCER TRAINING BALL ASSEMBLY” which issued Aug. 18, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,797 by Vartija et al. for “GAME BALL TRAINING APPARATUS/CARRIER” which issued Jan. 28, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,940 by Derst for “SOCCER HEADER PRACTICE APPARATUS” which issued Mar. 21, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,032 by Krietzman for “SUSPENDED FELINE TOY AND EXERCISER” which issued Dec. 12, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,760 by Hauter for “SOCCER TRAINING BALL FOR USE WITH A CORD SUSPENDED SOCCER BALL” which issued Dec. 24, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,186 by Dudley for “SOCCER TRAINING AND PRACTICE DEVICE” which issued Apr. 15, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,975 by Hesse for “SOCCER TRAINING AID” which issued Dec. 2, 1997, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,539 B1 by Maina for “SOCCER BALL SPIN TRAINING TETHER” which issued Jan. 2, 2001.
None of these conventional return devices provide a means for kicking the ball resulting in a “controlled” spin to affect the direction and path of the ball on the ground and/or through the air. Moreover, none of the typical devices now available provide a tethering return means whereby the attachment means is rotatably connected to the ball so that tension created by the spinning ball is not imparted to the tether so that the tether does not interfere with the spinning motion imparted to the kick.